TheGemstoneChronicles

I’ve read most of the books of The Heart of The Staff fantasy series by Carol Marrs Phipps, so I had to read the final installment of the series. As with the other books, it was an excellent read!

Synopsis (from the author): Niarg has fallen to the dark sorceresses Demonica and Queen Spitemorta. The dragons have fled from their caves. Confident that Queen Minuet and Wizard Razzmorten are dead, and that the trolls have eaten every breathing Elf, Spitemorta brings down the last hamlets of the Northern Continent as she prepares to conquer the rest of the world.
But Queen Minuet and Wizard Razzmorten do live and are hiding in the crater of Mount Bedd with the Fairy guardians of the Forest Primeval, where they wait for what remains of their army before fleeing to the Black Desert to live beneath its burning sands with the dragons and all of the Elves who escaped Demonica's great troll raid, down their hidden river.
Is this truly the end of Niarg and freedom everywhere in world? Can Elves, dragons and men live outside her bondage, or will the Reaper Witch find them and enslave them once and for all?

What I liked: Over the course of reading this series, I became fond of many of the characters. My favorites are Minuet, Razzmorten, Edward Myrtlebell’s son) and the dragons. I think the blue tattooed warriors (Beaks) were great characters. I enjoyed the way the various threads of the story cam etogether, but you’ll get no spoilers from me! To find out how it all ends, you will just have to read it!

What I didn’t like: I did struggle a bit with the language of the Fairies. It was fine in small doses, but in this book, there was much dialogue among the three sisters and it slowed my reading as I tried to comprehend what they were saying.

Overall impression: I enjoyed the entire series and this book was certainly a worthy successor to the previous books. A great blend of intrigue, magic, evil witches, heroic sacrifice, and just a touch of romance makes the book a fun read. I would recommend it to any fan of fantasy! Well done Carol Marrs Phipps!

My rating: 4.5 Stars!!